The clocks are mounted on the clock towers of the Royal Liver Building situated on Canada Boulevard at Pier Head overlooking the River Mersey in Liverpool.
The Grade I listed building forms one of the 'Three Graces' along with the Port of Liverpool Building and the Cunard Building.
The Grade I description given by Historic England can be seen at the following link: (
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"The Royal Liver Building was the purpose-built home of the Royal Liver Assurance group, which had been set up in the city in 1850 to provide locals with assistance related to losing a wage-earning relative.
It was designed by Walter Aubrey Thomas, the foundation stone was laid on 11th May 1908 and the building was officially opened by Lord Sheffield 3 years later, on 19th July 1911.
It was one of the first buildings in the world to be built using reinforced concrete.
The building stands at 98.2 m (322 ft) tall to the top of the spires, 103.7 metres (340feet) to the top of the birds and 50.9 m (167 ft) to the main roof.
The Royal Liver Building is one of the most recognisable landmarks in the city of Liverpool with its two fabled Liver Birds which watch over the city and the sea. Legend has it that if these two birds were to fly away, the city would cease to exist.
The Liver Birds are 5.5 metres,18 feet high. Their added height gives the Royal Liver Building an overall height of 103.7 metres, 340 feet.
The building of skyscraper proportion has 13 floors and was once one of the tallest buildings in the country, and is currently the 4th tallest building in Liverpool."
"The building is crowned by a pair of clock towers: as a ship passed along the river, mariners could tell the time from these.
The clocks were made by Gent and Co. of Leicester. The clock faces are situated 220 feet above the ground and each have a diameter of 7.6 m (25 ft) larger than those of London's famous landmark, the Great Westminster Clock, and holding the distinction of being the largest electronically driven clocks in the UK.
The four circular clock faces have no numerals, only black facets indicating the 12 hours, minute markers and black hands, the minute hand measuring 14 feet.
Three are mounted on the riverside tower, facing west/north/south, the remaining one on the landward tower facing east. There is only one mechanism driving the faces on both of the towers."
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"The clocks were made by Gent & Co of Leicester, whose electric timepieces were on display in railway stations all over the world. They each consisted of 27 sections Before installation, forty Royal Liver executives and civic dignitaries held a special dinner, with one of the clock faces used as a dining table. The huge clock faces, whose hands alone weighed 5cwts, were then hoisted up to the towers in May 1911 in readiness for the big switch on, which would see the clocks being controlled electronically from the Greenwich Observatory."
The clock, known as ‘The Great George’, was named after King George V.
"The clocks were started on 22nd June 1911 at 1.40pm, the precise time George V was crowned. It was the Royal Liver Chairman Mark Lewis who started them off, telling the VIPs gathered that Liverpool had always been loyal to kings and queens and it was only right that the largest electrical timepieces in the world should be started at the time His Majesty was crowned. On turning the lever, Mr Lewis said ‘In the name of God I turn on this lever’ before his suggestion that they be known as the Great George Liver Clocks was greeted with warm applause. On the river ships’ sirens blew while on the ground several verses of the National Anthem were sung.
In 1953 electric chimes were added to the clocks in memory of Royal Liver staff who had been killed in the two world wars. They remain the largest clock faces in the United Kingdom today, but are a long way behind the largest in the world, which are a massive 43 metres and situated on the Abraj Al Bait Towers in Mecca, Saudi Arabia."
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The report by Georgia Lambert appeared on the Liverpool Echo online on 5th July 2021, and reads as follows;
'Rare pictures taken inside the world famous Royal Liver Building clock towers'"Behind the scenes photographs show the inner workings of the historic Royal Liver Building clocks
Standing as a symbol of the city, the Royal Liver Building is a 322ft, Grade 1-listed building which opened as offices in 1911.
To mark its 110th anniversary, on July 2, Time Team presenter Sir Tony Robinson explored behind the scenes at the clock towers.
The much-loved historian and actor also experienced the Royal Liver Building's panoramic guided tour (RLB360), which included a new digital projection, installed on the clock tower walls to tell the tale of Liverpool's rich heritage.
The tour opened in 2018 and has since welcomed over 35,000 visitors from across the world.
It takes you inside the historic clock tower which looks over the entire Liverpool City region and Waterfront port from the 15th floor.
During the actor's visit, rare photographs were taken of the inner workings of the clock's mechanisms.
The clocks are the largest electronically-driven clocks in the UK and were started on June 22, 1911 at 1.40pm to coincide with the exact moment of the coronation of King George V.In total, there are four clock faces on the two towers - three on the west tower and one on the east.
The clockmakers, Gent & Co concepted and created a ‘waiting train movement’ mechanism for these clocks.
In November 1910, the clock face was used as the table for a banquet to celebrate British Engineering and the achievement of the construction.
According to the Royal Liver Building 360 Tour, electronic chimes were installed in the clock towers as a memorial to the members of the Royal Liver Friendly Society who died during World War 1 and World War 2.
The four clock faces of the Liver Building each measure 25 feet wide, which is two-feet bigger than the clock tower of the Houses of Parliament, built in 1859 in London." SOURCE: (
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